NOTW: New Jersey school ‘pooperintendent,’ microwaved urine and a cop who needs to chill

A janitor at Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea, may have hit the jackpot on April 26 when he discovered $325,000 worth of gold bars in a garbage bin. Investigators told The Korea Times they believe two men were transporting the gold, wrapped in newspapers, from Hong Kong to Japan, and threw away the stash for fear of being searched by customs agents. If the owner doesn’t make a claim in six months, the janitor will get the gold, thanks to South Korea’s “finders-keepers” law. However, if the treasure is found to be linked to criminal activity, the janitor will not be entitled to any of it.

HIGH TIMES

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper arrived at the scene of a crash in Orlando on April 29 to find Scott Ecklund, 32, uninjured but highly agitated. Trooper Glaudson Curado arrested Ecklund after Ecklund helpfully told the trooper he could get more meth than had been found in the search of Ecklund’s wrecked Chevy Impala if the trooper would allow him to leave the scene. “Mr. Ecklund was making no sense during our conversation,” Curado wrote in his report, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Ecklund, who was arrested earlier in April for crashing a truck into a house and claiming to be an FBI agent as he brandished an assault rifle, was charged with meth possession and driving with a suspended license and taken to the Orange County Jail.

INDECENT EXPOSURE

Neighbors of the “Pooperintendent,” a New Jersey school superintendent nabbed for repeatedly defecating on a high school running track, were nonplussed by the news. Thomas Tramaglini, 42, superintendent of schools in nearby Kenilworth, was charged April 30 in Holmdel, New Jersey, Municipal Court for defecating in public, lewdness and littering after being caught on surveillance video relieving himself on a daily basis during his run at the Holmdel High School track. The track is about 3 miles from Tramaglini’s home in Aberdeen. But neighbors told NJ.com that Tramaglini always struck them as a nice guy — “Except for pooping on the field,” one added. Another dismissed all the attention: “If he wasn’t a super, this wouldn’t even be news.”

AWESOME!

The Palais de Tokyo, a contemporary art museum in Paris, has made a name for itself by granting special visiting hours to nudists. On May 5, Reuters reported, naturists were invited to tour an exhibit, with about 160 attendees taking advantage of the sans-clothing event. Paris is seeing an increase in naturist events, according to Julien Claude-Penegry, communications director of the Paris Naturists Association. “The naturists’ way of life is to be naked. Naturists are pushing past barriers, taboos or mentalities that were obstructive,” he said. Next up for French nudists: a clubbing night later this year.

QUESTIONABLE JUDGEMENT

Angelique Sanchez, 26, of Denver was asked to provide a urine sample for a prospective employer on May 3, so, of course, she stopped off at a 7-Eleven store in Aurora to apply the final touch: She put the urine-filled bottle in a microwave and turned it on, whereupon the sample blew up. A 7-Eleven clerk, who observed a “yellow liquid … and the smell was unquestionably urine” dripping from the microwave, confronted Sanchez, who wiped the liquid out of the microwave and onto the floor, then walked out. KUSA TV reported that police caught up with her at a nearby clinic and issued a summons for damaged property. Medical expert Comilla Sasson guessed that Sanchez was trying to restore the sample to body temperature.

THAT’S ONE WAY TO DO IT

When Leroy Mason, 68, of Barton, Vermont, takes care of a problem, he doesn’t do things halfway. On April 30, as his smoke detector blared yet again, Mason aimed his 20-gauge shotgun at the cursed piece of electronics and fired twice. Unfortunately, the shots also hit the adjoining wall of an occupied apartment. Fire and EMS crews called to the scene had been before, according to a Vermont State Police news release quoted by Boston25 News, as “Mr. Mason has complained in the past about frequent false alarms … and was upset that fire crews would not relocate the detector. Mr. Mason took it upon himself to relocate the smoke detector…” When first responders relieved him of his shotgun, Mason rearmed himself with a Colt .45 handgun and demanded his shotgun back. Mason was finally subdued and charged with aggravated assault with a weapon and reckless endangerment.

SMOOTH REACTIONS

Jose Arreola, 49, of Bellflower, California, was more angry than scared when a police officer drew a gun on him March 16, mistakenly thinking Arreola had stolen a roll of Mentos, which retails for $1.19. A security camera at an Orange County service station captured the incident, showing Arreola placing the Mentos on the counter along with a $20 bill. As he waited for his change, Arreola put the mints in his pocket, which is when an off-duty officer behind him pulled a gun out of the pocket of his hoodie and ordered him to put the mints back on the counter. When the clerk confirmed Arreola had paid, the officer said, “My apologies.” “It was traumatic, the whole incident,” Arreola told the Orange County Register. “Are you seriously pulling a gun out over a pack of Mentos?”